Awen is Welsh for inspiration, the muse. This blog will record my explorations into poetry and fiction writing and my interests in Welsh/Celtic poetics and mythology.

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

A New Start

Hi Everyone

I know it's been a long time since I posted anything to this blog. Life, as usual, got in the way, and other things had higher priority. In fact, major things have happened to my life, like the fact that in September last year I took a redundancy package from my teaching position at Box Hill Institute.

Over the last year I have been adjusting to life as a full-time writer, which has meant new regimes and new ways of making money. I can't say I have fully acclimatised to my new lifestyle, but at least I have other income streams happening while I concentrate on my writing projects.

Although I am doing some sessional teaching, both in games writing and in poetry writing, I plan to shift the focus of this blog into my new creative directions. What these are I will describe in future posts.

Meanwhile, for those interested in writing poetry, I am teaching a 'poetry for beginners' course at Writers Victoria. Below are links to a course description and an interview I did about poetry, language and publishing. Maybe I'll see some of you there.

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About Me

Born and bred in Melbourne, Australia, I came to writing and poetry late, after careers and ambitions in mathematics, martial arts and music. I have had poetry and fiction published in journals and anthologies around Australia and also in Britain, Canada, the USA, and Germany. In 2005 I won the Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Competition and I have been shortlisted in others, including the Blake Poetry Prize. I taught in a writing course at Box Hill Institute, Victoria, for 17 years and have completed a PhD in Creative Writing. Currently, I am working on my second collection of poetry and a Dark Ages novel. I live in Melbourne with my wife, Jo, and the seasonal owls, bats and lorikeets that love the trees around our home.